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An investigation of working memory effects on oral grammatical accuracy and fluency in producing questions in English

Lookup NU author(s): Dr Clare Wright

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Abstract

This paper addresses the question of how far psycholinguistic constraints may affect learners' L2 speech improvement during a period of immersion. Data are presented testing the hypothesis that individual differences in WM capacity are associated with individual variation in rates of progress in oral grammatical accuracy and fluency in producing English questions over a year's immersion. Thirty-two Chinese adult speakers of English were tested, before and after a year's immersion, to measure accuracy and fluency using an oral question elicitation task and for WM using a battery of L1 and L2 measures. Story Recall in L1 (Mandarin) was found to be significantly associated with individual improvements in oral grammatical measures, but not in improvements in fluency, supporting the hypothesis that WM may aid L2 development. However, on the oral measures, there was no significant mean improvement in grammatical accuracy, although there was for fluency. The findings suggest that a year's immersion helps improve individuals' performance, independent of WM capacity, but is no guarantee of significant grammatical change.

Publication metadata

Author(s): Wright C

Publication type: Article

Publication status: Published

Journal: TESOL Quarterly

Year: 2013

Volume: 47

Issue: 2

Pages: 352-374

Print publication date: 05/10/2012

Date deposited: 13/09/2011

ISSN (print): 0039-8322

ISSN (electronic): 1545-7249

Publisher: Wiley-Blackwell

URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/tesq.68

DOI: 10.1002/tesq.68

Notes: Good significance and originality (TESOL Quarterly reviewers deemed it relevant, theoretically well-constructed, and extremely well-written). The study focuses on how WM may affect the development of fluency/accuracy in L2 speech within a framework of individual variation research. Examining this relationship within the context of an immersion programme is an additional strength given lack of similar research in the field. Mixed findings allow a discussion of the complex factors affecting language development in immersion settings; discussion clearly addresses some of the limitations of the study design, and clarifies how to improve such longitudinal language development research in future.

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